Corn-picker.



l'. KAULL.

GORE PCKER.

APPLICATION $11,121) APR. 27, 1911.

'Patented Apr. 16, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

B. J. KAULL.

CORN PICKER.

APPLICATION FILED 11111.27, 1911.

Patented Apr. 16, 1912( A UNITED sTATns PATENT OFFICEQ, l

BURT J. KAULL, or LA FAYETTE', INDIANA.

CORN-PICKER. f f. t i

To all whom tt may concern: I

Be it knownthat I, BURT J. KAULn, a

citizen of the United States, residing at La Fayette, in the c ounty of vTippecanoe and y State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Corn-Picker, of which` the following is aspeciication.

The object of my invention is to produce a machine by means vof which the ears of corn, 'or other similar crop, may be automatically -.removed from the standing stalk by an upwardly directed blow delivered to the butt of the ear, mechanism being provided, however, to insure the proper passage through the machinev of those' stalks whichi may be accidentally uprooted or broken at the points below the ears. .i

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a front perspective of the j picker portion of a machine embodying my invention, with one of the shields removed to show the gathering and retarding chains; Fig. .2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a fragmentary section on line 3-3 of Figr2.

In the drawings, 10 indicates a. main frame supported in part upon a bull wheel 11 carrying a driving sprocket 12. The frame 10,at its forward end, carries a vpair of downwardly and forwardly inclined supplemental frames 13 and 14 which are separated from each other enough to form a clear passage between them for a single row of standing stalks. Journaled at the upper and inner corner of each .of the frames 13 and 14 is a knocking roller 15, the two rollers being separated from each other by an average thickness of a corn stalk, and

each of these rollers 15 is provided with longitudinally knocking ribs 16. Each roller pered portion 15 which together form a gradually narrowing throat leading tothe space between the two rollers. The two rollers 15 are connected by suitable gears 17 for `opposite rotation and said rollers are driven in any suitable manner in -such direction that their adjacent portions will move upwardly, as indicated by the arrows ijn Fig. 3. The rollers may be driven in anydes1rable manner, as for instance by means of a chain 18 passingover sprocket 12 and on to a sprocket carried by a countershaft 19 ;4 a sprocket wheel 21, a chain 22 passing over a sprocket wheel carried by another countershaft? 23 (Fig. 2) and hidden behind a bevel Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 27,-1911. Serial No. 623,562.

15 is provided at its lower end with a ta-v Patent'ea Apr. 16,' 1912.

gear 24 which meshes with a bevel p inion25 carried by the shaft of one of the.rollersf,15

Arranged at the lower end ofeachofjthe frames 13 and 14 is a gatherii/igvchainrl which passes over suitable idlersk 32 32 'and' chains is provided with gathering lingers 34 which, at the adjacent edges of the. two frames 13 and 14, project toward veach` other and slightly overlap. These chains are of an ordinarv type and are driven in s uclrman-` .ner that the rearward movement ofthet fin-` gers 34 will be just a little greaterin .speed thanthe speed of forward movement of :the machine as a whole so that, when the stand-r ingstalks are first engaged by these fngers 34, they will be moved rearwardly relative to the ground, the operation being suclrthat: standing stalks will be bent. backward slightly and stalks which are lying down will be raised upright. The lingers 34 of chains 32 are withdrawn from the space between the two frames 13 and 14 at about the time the forward ends'of the rollers 15 comeopposite the stalks delivered by the fingers 34 and, asy

. it is desirable that the upwardblow ofthe knocking ribs 16 bev as nearly as kpossible lin alinement with the stalk so as to `,exert the greatest pulling 'effect upon the stem of the.v ear,'I'prov1de a retarding chain 35 similar to the chain 31 and provided with fingers 36.

ya driving sprocket 33, and leach of these` This chain is supported upon idlers37 ,13.7 iso;

that its iingers may be projected across and travel upwardly along the space betweenthe rollers 15, and the chain 35also passes over;a driving sprocket 38 which-is driven yat, such',v speed that the upward and rearward ymov-e-vv ment of the fingers 36 will be somewhat slower than the forwardv movement of the, machine as a whole so that the lingers 33. will.

thus operate to bend the upper endfoffthe stalk forwardly, as the machine advances, as indicated in Fig. .2, so that, beforethe upper ends of the rollersl are brought opposite.

any particular stalk, the upper-,end 1ofthat stalk will be practically atv rightgangles the axis of the rollers.

Any suitable driving train may bei` pros vided for driving the several linger .chains and inthe present case I have shown acountershaft 41 which is driven by a ybevel pinion., f

(not shown) meshing with pinion' 24... The

Ashaft 41 carries a sprocket 42 over which chain 43 passes to a sprocket 44 connected to a sprocket 33. Shaft 41 also carries a gear 45 meshing with a gear46 onthewshaft passes to 'the driving sprocket which supports the chain 31 on the frame 14. The

i' entire driving train for these chains is not shown because the gathering chains 31 and the 'means for driving the same 'are well known to all persons ordinarily familiar with this type of machine. i

It sometimes' happens that the lstalks are broken 'and in that case there would be an accumulation ofbroken stalks atthe upper end offthe'rollers 15 in such manner as to interfere with proper operation. In order to avoid this difficulty, I have mounted below each roller 15' a pulling roller 61 which, at its forward end is provided withV a tapered poi-tion 62 carrying gathering 4flanges or .worms 63. :The rollersnl are considerably ,shorter than rollers 15 vand lie below the upp'er'ends of said rollers 15, being vgeared to- K gether and to' the rollers 15in such manner as lto have their adjacent portions moved downwardly. The circuinferences of these two rollers -lie somewhat closer to each other than the rollers 15so that the throat be.

tween the rollers 61 is less than the average stalkfthickness and said rollers are provided with gripping ribs 64, the arrangement being vsuch that, when the gathering flanges 63 ofrollers -61 are brought opposite-a standing stalk'or opposite the downwardly projecting end of .a broken'stalk lying between the rollers 15, the said stalk is drawn rearwardlv by the .gathering flanges and driven intothe4 space 'between the pulling rollers, whereupon said pulling rollers serve to draw the upper end of the stalk positively down between the knocking rollers thus'insuring la proper'knocking action ofthe knocking rollers upon the ears 'of the stalks.

Itvwill be readily understood that the apparatus whichl I have described may be adapted for use in connection with any similarl standing crop in. which thedesired fruit is attached thereto by a breakable stem.,

" `and in the specification and claims I' have ingl means to pull the stalk downwardly past the blow-delivering means.

, 2.`In a corn picker, the combination of means ,fordelivering an upward blow to the corn ears, means for engaging the upper ends of the corn stalks to move thel same forwardly with the machine but at a slower l rate, and means for engaging the Stalk below said blow-delivering means to pull the stalk downwardly past the blow -delivering Vmeans.

In a corn picker, the combination of a vehicle, means carried thereby for delivering` an upward blow to the corn ears upon standing stalks,. and means carried by the vehicle Ifor engaging the upper ends of the corn stalks to move the same forwardly with the machine but at a slower rate.

i 4. In a'corn picker, the combination of a vehicle, means carried thereby for delivering an upward blow to the corn ears upon standing stalks, and means carried by the vehicle for engaging4 theupper ends of the corn stalks to move the same forwardly with the machine 'prior to and substantially until such blow is delivered. v

5. In a corn picker, the combination-of a pair of downwardly and forwardly inclined knocking rollers provided with-means for delivering an upward blow tothe corn ears between the rollers, means for driving -the said rollers upwardly at .their adjacent portions, gathering chains arranged in advance of the knocking rollers, means for driving said gathering chains at a speed greater than the forwardymovement of the machine, and means for engaging the upper end ofa stalk after it is within the range of action of the knocking rollers to ybendy the upper end of said stalk forwardly. A

* 6. In a cornpicker, the combination of a pair of downwardly and forwardly inclined l knocking rollers provided with means fora' delivering an upward blow to the corn ears between the rollers, means for driving the said rollers upwardly at their adjacent portions, gathering chains arranged in advance of the knocking rollers, means for driving said gathering chains at a speed greater than the forward movement of the machine, a retardingnainl arranged above the crotch between the knocking rollers, and means for .driving said retarding chain at a speed less than the forward speed of the machine.

In a corn picker, the combination of a' pair of downwardly and forwardly inclined knocking rollers provided with'V means for delivering an upward blow to the corn ears between the rollers, means for driving the said rollers upwardly at theiradjacent portions, gathering chains arranged in advance of the knocking rollers, means for driving said gathering-` chains at a speed greater than the forward movement of the machine,

means for engaging the upper end of a stalk after it is within the range of action of the knocking rollers to bend the u; per end of said stalk forwardly, a pair of pulling rollers arrangedA beneath the knockingrollers,

and means for driving said pulling :rollers downwardly attlieir adjacent portions;

8. In apornpickenlthe combination off aiso pair of downwardly and forwardly inclined knocking rollers provided with means for delivering an upward blow to the corn ears betweenthe rollers, means for driving the said rollers upwardly at. their adj acentportions, gathering chains arranged in advance of the knocking rollers, meansfor driving said 'gathering chains at a speed greater than the forwardv movement of the machine,

a retarding chain arranged above the crotch betweenV the knocking rollers, means for 'driving said retarding chain at a speed less than the `forward speed of the`x machine, a

In witness whereof, I have, hereunto sety my hand and seal at La Fayette, Indiana,

this 22nd day of April, A. D. one thousand 20v nine hundred and eleven.

v BURT J. KAULL. Witnesses:

RIcHARD CARPENTER, GRACE D. VAN CAMP. 

